Kevin M. Touhey, Amazon best selling Author  

It takes a certain level of detachment to not get sucked into the speculation and gossip-filled circus that is considered news nowadays. Most of the so called “truth” is based on opinions and assumptions, and therefore lacks true substance.

This poses a serious threat.

It becomes a problem when a pundit’s assumption or opinion is espoused as the “truth” by a group of people who refuse to second guess said pundit. In this age of widespread punditry, anyone that hears the “news” can become an expert through osmosis.

Individuals take a pundit’s assumption to heart, spread it as factual information among their circles, which in turn continue to propagate them under the false idea that they are “news.”

Talk radio is a great example of this seriously flawed cycle and format of news circulation: it turns the “truth” into an assumption gone wild.

It is important to be critical and to second-guess the media we consume; if not, we become actors in this spectacle of gossip, opinion and assumptions masquerading as news.

It’s a very vicious circle.

This is why it is imperative to not believe everything we hear and see, because even though the media has gone wild, the public must preserve its sanity.

Are you still sane?